The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on R.i.s.e. Program
The R.I.S.E. Program is a special education school in New Ulm, Minnesota, serving students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. It operates under the River Bend Education District, which is a cooperative that provides specialized programming for member districts rather than a traditional town-based school system. This is not a neighborhood school that families choose by address. It is a placement-based program for students whose individual education plans require a more structured or therapeutic setting than their home district can provide.
Enrollment is very small, with students spread thinly across the grade bands. A substantial share of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The racial and ethnic composition is predominantly White, with a notable Hispanic presence and a small American Indian representation. Because this is a special education school, the standard academic accountability metrics need to be read with that context firmly in mind.
State assessment results are available for a few tested grades in math and reading, and they show zero percent proficient at every reported grade level. A science result for one grade level was suppressed for data privacy due to the very low number of test takers. These numbers are not surprising for a school that serves students with significant disabilities. The state tests are designed for the general population, and a special education program’s proficiency rates are not comparable to those of a typical elementary or high school. A parent considering this placement should discuss academic progress measures directly with the school team, because the state’s one-day snapshot tells almost nothing about student growth in this setting.
The comparison to other districts in Brown County places the R.I.S.E. Program in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects. That position is expected given the school’s purpose, but it is worth noting that the comparison set includes only a handful of districts, so the range is narrow and the label carries less meaning here than it would for a comprehensive school. No graduation rate is reported, and chronic absenteeism data is also missing. Those gaps likely reflect the small population and the alternative nature of the program, but a parent may want to ask the school directly about how it tracks student outcomes beyond state tests.
New Ulm, where the school is located, is the county seat of Brown County, a community with a historic German heritage and a mixed economy of agriculture, food processing, and light manufacturing. The city has a compact downtown with civic institutions, parks, and annual festivals. Housing values in the area are below the state and national medians. The school itself sits on South Broadway, a main thoroughfare. Because R.I.S.E. is a specialized cooperative program, families do not need to live within a particular attendance boundary, and transportation arrangements are typically handled through the home district.
For a family exploring this program, the central takeaway is that the R.I.S.E. Program exists to serve a specific population of students who need intensive special education supports across all grade levels. Standardized test scores and district comparisons do not offer a useful picture of the school’s quality or effectiveness. The questions that matter are whether the program’s therapeutic and instructional model matches a student’s needs, how the staff-to-student ratio works in practice, and what transitions look like for students who may return to a less restrictive setting. These are conversations to have with the River Bend Education District and with the current families in the program.
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